Time was not enough. We skipped well-known tourist sites like Christoffel Park, Hato Caves, the Dolphin Aacademy, Ostrich Farm and CurAloe Plantation. This is what did keep us busy (or lazy) during our stay on Curaçao.

Scenic beaches
Curaçao is blessed by a multitude a beautiful small beaches, some of them very crowded, especially around the capital Willemstad, others more quiet and secluded. Compared to Aruba and especially Bonaire we found the snorkeling poor, but the beaches on the northwest coast of Curaçao were the most scenic we saw. Entering the gorgeous turquoise waters, however, can be a bit of challenge sometimes because of rocks and dead coral on the bottom of most beaches.

Remote Klein Curaçao
Not many people get here, but we thought our trip to Klein (Little) Curaçao was one of the best things we did during our stay on Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. Klein Curaçao is a small uninhabited island, about 1,5-2 hours by boat from Curaçao.

We sailed with the Mermaid, which takes up to 60 people to the island four times a week. We had to get up early as the boat was leaving at 7 AM from Caracasbaai, on the other side of the island from where we were staying. The sea was pretty rough, so a lot of people ended up feeding their stomach contents to the fishes. We ate no breakfast and used travel sickness medication, however, and experienced no problems whatsoever.

Landhuizen (country houses)
Scattered across Curaçao plantations and so-called landhuizen (manors or country houses) are an essential part of the island’s history and culture. A landhuis was the main building of a plantation, the home of the plantation owner and his family.

The two-storied houses date back to the 18th and 19th century and were built using coral stone, plastering the outside with sand and lime in soft color tones. Some of them are open to tourists as a gallery restaurant or museum. We visited three of them.

Read the rest of this post, including many great pictures, on Take Us Anywhere, originally published on April 11, 2016.